https://blogs.ubc.ca/ziyuehandennie/2013/10/07/chinese-wal-mart/
Dennie is correct on the point of the Chinese’s domestic view on Wal-mart. In fact, Wal-mart is very common in China nowadays, taking up a huge market share in the biggest Asian market.
Nevertheless, I have a different opinion on the future strategic plan for Wal-Mart. China is still in the developing stage, meaning that the ratio of the rich and the poor is exceptionally unbalanced. There is no surprise that middle and lower class takes up a big portion of the population, while the rich only takes up a few percent. In this case, Wal-Mart has a competitive advantage by targeting lower class with cheaper necessary goods due to enormous demand and affordable price. Even though the goods are not luxuries, they are adequate for a normal individual to live a regular life.
I also do not recommend Wal-Mart to start an online shopping site. As mentioned above, Wal-Mart does not have many luxury goods for sale, and most of the goods are necessities. Who want to order vegetables and milk online and wait for shipping while they can drive ten minutes to the store and buy fresh ones? It is probably best for Wal-Mart to further understand the market before expanding recklessly.
One Comment
Jack Li is correct about China’s current social structure. However, according to statistics the majority of the shoppers on Tabao and Yihaodian are in between middle to lower class. Taobao is not a shopping platform for the upper class, its marketing strategy targets the common people. The main reason that they would spend time on Taobao for necessities is because it’s fast and affordable. For perishable food such as milk and bread, delivery speed can be within hours. In fact, many of the food products on Taobao are very popular. Not to mention that other famous supermarkets in China have online stores as well.